|
“Willamette must model the ideal –
excellence – through bringing to campus the best possible
students that reflect not only how we want the student body to look
and perform, but equally important, how we want our society as a
whole to look and perform.”
– M. Lee Pelton
|
 Dear
Willamette Community:
Diversity and pluralism are critically important in our increasingly
global world. At Willamette University, our goal is to lay the groundwork
for everyone to be treated with dignity. By valuing the points of
view that emerge from diverse cultural heritages and ethnic backgrounds,
we enlarge our aesthetic horizons, enrich our intellectual discourse,
sharpen our historical perspectives and give increased focus to
who we are and what we stand for as a nation.
As Lena Hoffman ’05, who came to Willamette from Anchorage,
Alaska said, “I think it’s really important that we
understand the different cultures around us and have respect for
them. That way, we can decrease … ignorance.”
As a student body, a faculty and an administration, we promote
the expression of different voices and viewpoints in all venues
available to us.
Academic excellence is the key to expanding and intensifying Willamette’s
growing reputation and prestige. Diversity and academic excellence
go hand in hand. Willamette must model the ideal – excellence
– through bringing to campus the best possible students that
reflect not only how we want the student body to look and perform,
but equally important, how we want our society as a whole to look
and perform.
On the State Capitol wall, a stone’s throw from the Willamette
campus, the words of Plato’s Republic have been grandly chiseled
into the marble on its north side: “The mind of man knows
no employment more worthy of its powers than the righteousness of
human affairs. No goal of its labours that is superior to the discovery
of good in the guidance of life. A free state is formed and is maintained
by the voluntary union of the whole people joined together under
the same body of laws for the common welfare and the sharing of
benefits justly apportioned.”
Plato’s 2,000-year-old words etched in stone forever urge
us to value and ensure a diversity of perspectives in every aspect
of modern society. There is nothing more noble, more worthy of our
attention than justice and truly representative governance.
Few universities have been able to succeed as well as Willamette
in both diversifying their student bodies and keeping their commitments
to enhancing academic excellence. Willamette is currently the most
racially diverse undergraduate college in the state of Oregon. Concurrently,
the number of applicants and the academic credentials of incoming
Willamette students continue to rise as more and more of the nation’s
top students recognize the importance of diversity in selecting
their colleges.
I hope you enjoy this edition of The Scene. Thank you for your
interest in Willamette University.
Warmly,
M. Lee Pelton
President
|
